Support for Charles Rangel Wanes In Midst of Alleged Ethics Scandals

(CORRECTION, 10/26/09: The Federal Election Commission incorrectly attributed a contribution from Rangel to Walter Jones, Jr. The text below has been corrected accordingly.

CORRECTION, 10/16/09: The amount of campaign contributions from Rep. Charlie Rangel that Rep. Peter Welch has returned was inaccurately reported in the original posting of this article. Welch has refunded not only $15,000 in contributions back to Rangel’s leadership PAC as we identified, but also $4,000 in contributions back to Rangel’s candidate committee, which was missing from the FEC data. The text below has been corrected accordingly.)

Republican members of the House last week attempted to oust Rangel from his powerful chairmanship of the House Ways & Means Committee for the duration of a House Ethics Committee investigation into alleged ethical misconduct surrounding his real estate investments and dubious personal financial disclosure reports.

And although the effort failed and Rangel can sit tight for now, signs that he’s sustained political damage are emerging. His donors and colleagues are giving him less cash, and one former employee, Vince Morgan, has even announced he’ll be running against Rangel in 2010. Morgan worked as Rangel’s campaign director in his 2002 re-election bid. That cycle, Rangel raised $1.7 million and won handily with 89 percent of the vote.

Here Capital Eye takes an investigative look at Rangel’s financial connections, as we did last week with Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.), who faces ethical allegations of his own.

Rangel’s Relationship With His ColleaguesRangel’s contributions to other lawmakers have been vast in the past two decades. Nearly one out of every two current members of the U.S. House of Representatives has received money in support of their own campaigns since 1989 from either Rangel’s leadership PAC, the National Leadership PAC, or his candidate committees. He’s given $2.1 million to current lawmakers during that time, the Center for Responsive Politics has found.

So far only one of Rangel’s beneficiaries, Rep. Peter Welch (D-Vt.), has reported returning those contributions. Welch, who sits on the House Ethics Committee that is investigating Rangel, reported returning all $19,000 that he’s brought in through his candidate committees from Rangel upon being named to the Ethics Committee earlier this year.

We’ll be looking at third quarter reports, which are due today, for additional returns.

Two of the other members of the House Ethics Committee have so far held on to their Rangel funds. The congressman has given $4,000 to Rep. GK Butterfield (D-N.C.) and $10,000 to Rep. Ben Chandler (D-Ky.). Rangel hasn’t transferred any money to the candidate committees or leadership PACs of the other two Democrats on the Ethics Committee.

One dollar of every $10 that Rangel has given to his current colleagues has gone to current members of the Congressional Black Caucus. Last week, 36 members of the caucus sent a letter to Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi asking her to “lay off Rangel until the ethics committee completes its investigation,” Politico reported. According to CRP’s analysis, Rangel gave a total $239,500 to 38 of the 42 members of the caucus, including Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.). All but two of those who signed the letter have collected money from Rangel. Butterfield is also a member of the CBC.

So far both Pelosi and Senate Majority Harry Reid (D-Nev.) have made no moves to oust Rangel from his current post on the House Ways & Means Committee. Since 1989, Rangel has given just $500 to Pelosi and $5,000 to Reid. President Barack Obama collected $1,000 from Rangel during the 2004 election cycle, when he ran for U.S. Senate, but did not receive money from Rangel during his presidential run.

Rep. Leonard Boswell (D-Iowa) has been Rangel’s favorite colleague to support financially over the years, giving him $56,000 since he was elected in 1996.

Here are the top 20 current lawmakers to receive money from Rangel since 1989 (including contributions from his campaign committee or leadership PACs to theirs):

Name

Total

Rep. Leonard L Boswell (D-Iowa)

$56,000

Rep. Jim Matheson (D-Utah)

$45,000

Rep. Chet Edwards (D-Texas)

$42,000

Rep. Jim Marshall (D-Ga)

$38,000

Rep. Earl Pomeroy (D-ND)

$36,000

Rep. Dennis Moore (D-Kan)

$36,000

Rep. Corrine Brown (D-Fla)

$35,500

Rep. John Barrow (D-Ga)

$33,000

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY)

$29,000

Rep. Melissa Bean (D-Ill)

$28,000

Rep. Eric Massa (D-NY)

$28,000

Rep. Harry E Mitchell (D-Ariz)

$28,000

Rep. Baron Hill (D-Ind)

$27,000

Rep. Joe Courtney (D-Conn)

$26,000

Rep. Rick Larsen (D-Wash)

$24,000

Rep. Rush Holt (D-NJ)

$24,000

Rep. Larry Kissell (D-NC)

$23,000

Rep. Joe Donnelly (D-Ind)

$22,000

Rep. Mary Jo Kilroy (D-Ohio)

$22,000

Rep. Paul E Kanjorski (D-Pa)

$21,000

Although Rangel has directed his funds over the years primarily to House Democrats, 18 senators have also collected money from the beleaguered congressman. One Republican, Rep. Rodney Alexander of Louisiana also brought in cash from Rangel, but only before Alexander switched parties to become a Republican. Last week, Jones was one of six Republicans who joined the Democrats in defeating the GOP’s efforts to force Rangel out of his spot on the Ways & Means Committee, according to USA Today.

Only two Democrats — Reps. Gene Taylor and Travis Childers, both of Mississippi — sided with members of the GOP on the vote. Neither lawmaker has collected any money from Rangel since 1989.

In the first half of this year, Rangel gave only $14,000 to other lawmakers through his leadership PAC and candidate committee. This meager amount comes after his most prolific election cycle. Between 2007 and 2008, Rangel doled out $905,900 to fellow politicians and committees. This may indicate that he’s slowing down his help to his colleagues while the investigation is pending, or it may merely be too early in the election cycle to distribute funds.

Although the cash flow from other members into Rangel’s candidate committee and leadership PAC has never matched the output, the New York congressman didn’t receive a single contribution from his colleagues in the first six months of this year. Since 1989, 14 current lawmakers have given Rangel $29,400, but that has been dwindling since the 2006 election cycle, when he brought in $13,050.

Three members of the Congressional Black Caucus have given him $7,050 since 1989, while no members of the House Ethics Committees have ever given him any cash. Reid has given $250 to Rangel, while Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) and Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) have, in the past, given him a total of $4,000.

Here are the current lawmakers to lend a helping financial hand to Rangel since 1989 (including contributions from their campaign committee or leadership PACs to his):

Name

Total

Rep. Shelley Berkley (D-Nev)

$4,600

Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif)

$4,068

Rep. Michael Arcuri (D-NY)

$4,000

Rep. Doris O Matsui (D-Calif)

$4,000

Sen. Charles E Schumer (D-NY)

$2,500

Rep. Al Green (D-Texas)

$2,000

Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn)

$2,000

Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont)

$1,000

Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass)

$1,000

Rep. Jim McDermott (D-Wash)

$1,000

Rep. Bill Pascrell Jr (D-NJ)

$1,000

Rep. Steven R Rothman (D-NJ)

$1,000

Rep. Edolphus Towns (D-NY)

$1,000

Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev)

$250

Rangel’s list of allegations has continued to grow since the New York Times reported in July 2008 that he leased four rent-controlled apartments in New York and used one as his campaign office — in violation of city and state law.

Most recently, the House Ethics Committee expanded its investigation into Rangel’s behavior in August when he amended his personal financial disclosures to reveal that he had failed to report $660,000 worth of income and assets. Rangel, who was elected in 1970, faces allegations that he did political favors for a company that gave money to an educational center built in the congressman’s name and for taking questionable congressional trips that a private entity paid for. In addition, Rangel himself failed to report more than $75,000 in property taxes while having jurisdiction over the country’s tax laws as the chairman of the House Ways & Means Committee.

Last week’s effort to oust Rangel from his chairmanship — led by Rep. John Carter (R-Texas) — failed when the House voted 243 to 156 to send it to the Ethics Committee, effectively killing it, according to The Hill.

Notably, 19 lawmakers, six of whom were Democrats, voted “present” on Carter’s resolution against Rangel last week. This includes the members of the Ethics Committee investigating Rangel. Ethics committee members account for nine of the 19 present votes, and the committee’s tenth member, Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.), was absent and did not vote.

Donor TrustThe funds flowing to and from other lawmakers aren’t Rangel’s only source of money that appears to be slowing down. Although it’s still early in the election cycle, Rangel raised a paltry $685,050 in the first half of 2009 for his re-election efforts from special interests across all industries. In the 2008 election cycle, he brought in more than $5 million. Rangel’s total haul since 1989 is $18.3 million.

Being the chair of the Ways and Means Committee means being a magnet for cash from the finance, insurance and real estate sector, a trend that is evident in Rangel’s relatively new role.

In the 2008 election cycle, when he took the gavel, Rangel collected three times more from the sector than he had in 2006, $1.3 million compared to $422,350. He has collected a total of $4.4 million from the finance sector since 1989, with insurance, securities and investment, real estate and commercial banks among his most generous industries. During the 2008 election cycle he raised more than twice overall what he had raised during any previous cycle.

Wall Street companies also dominate his top campaign donors: Citigroup’s political action committee and its employees have given him more money than any other company since 1989 at $185,600, with New York Life Insurance ($183,150) and Metlife ($143,600). As major employers in New York City, these companies are both his constituents and under his committee’s jurisdiction.

Here are Rangel’s top 20 donors since 1989 (including only contributions to his candidate committees):

Name

Total

Citigroup Inc

$185,600

New York Life Insurance

$183,150

MetLife Inc

$143,597

Goldman Sachs

$115,100

JPMorgan Chase & Co

$107,650

General Electric

$104,000

Altria Group

$101,478

AFLAC Inc

$101,000

Credit Suisse Group

$93,800

American Association for Justice

$89,000

American Federation of St/Cnty/Munic Employees

$87,000

American Federation of Teachers

$86,300

American Society of Anesthesiologists

$81,798

National Association of Realtors

$78,000

Air Line Pilots Association

$76,500

American Express

$76,075

American Hospital Association

$76,000

Service Employees International Union

$74,000

AXA

$73,000

Laborers Union

$71,500

Health-related industries make up Rangel’s second most generous sector, giving him $2.3 million since 1989. The Ways & Means Committee was one of three House committees charged with crafting health care reform legislation over the summer. Rangel helped shepherd a bill through the committee’s that included a robust public health insurance option. Health professionals, pharmaceutical companies, hospitals and nursing homes and health services and HMOs are all among Rangel’s top 20 industry donors, giving a combined total of $2.3 million to his candidate committees since 1989.

His top health-related donors include AFLAC (which has given him $101,000 since 1989), the American Society of Anesthesiologists ($81,800) and the American Hospital Association ($76,000).

Another group of donors is going to have to consider its ties to Rangel. The lobbying industry, including anyone who works at a lobbying firm in any capacity, is Rangel’s No. 7 most generous donor, contributing $543,400 to his coffers since 1989.

At least 178 registered lobbyists and their families have contributed nearly $295,000 to Rangel’s candidate committee and leadership PAC since the start of the 2008 election cycle. Two of those lobbyists once worked for Rangel — Florence W. Prioleau, who worked as Rangel’s legislative assistant and now works for Crowell & Moring, and William Singer, who was Rangel’s counsel on health and tax issues and is now employed at the Carmen Group. Collectively the two have given Rangel $2,000 since 2007.

Tonio Burgos, who gave the most money to Rangel among all registered lobbyists at $11,400, lobbies on behalf of the SEIU, which is also one of Rangel’s top 20 donors.

These are the registered lobbyists to contribute the most money to Rangel’s campaign committee and leadership PAC since the start of the 2008 election cycle (including donations from lobbyists’ immediate family members):

Name

Total

Burgos, Tonio

$11,400

Hanson, Eric

$10,000

Graefe, Frederick H

$8,100

Brain, Charles M

$6,000

Oldaker, William C

$5,800

Garrett Nelson, LaBrenda

$5,674

Fontheim, Claude G B

$5,000

Barnes, Ben

$5,000

Lynch, Patricia

$4,850

Russo, Martin A

$4,600

Cassidy, Gerald SJ

$4,600

Wiedeman, Wyeth

$4,600

Talisman, Jonathan

$4,000

Platt, Ronald L

$4,000

Daschle, Linda H

$4,000

Taylor, Gordon

$4,000

Bromberg, Michael D

$4,000

Dowley, Joseph K

$3,700

Leonard, Robert J

$3,550

Champlin, Steven M

$3,500

At least five of Rangel’s former employees have gone through the revolving door between the public and private sector, bringing their ties to Rangel and the federal government with them.

As the House Ethics Committee proceeds with the investigation into the allegations against Rangel, Capital Eye will continue to cover the story.

*The Federal Election Commission attributes this donation to Walter Jones, Jr. His office has contested that and we are in the process of following up with the FEC.

Senior Research Douglas Weber and Research Director Jihan Andoni contributed to this report.

Media Contact

Viveca Novak
(202) 354-0111
press@crp.org

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